Canada announces exemption from quarantine for eligible fully vaccinated travellers
The Canadian government has announced that from 5 July fully vaccinated travellers will not be subject to the federal requirement to quarantine or take a COVID-19 test on day-8. The vaccinated travellers who are currently eligible to enter Canada include Canadian citizens as well as international students with permission to enter Canada.
The non-essential international travel is under restrictions until July 21, 2021.
To be eligible for the quarantine exception, the international students must have received a vaccine accepted by the Government of Canada at least 14 days prior to entering Canada. The accepted vaccines are Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) and the document proving the vaccination is required in English, French or with a certified translation.
In addition to being fully vaccinated the arriving students still meet all other mandatory requirements, including pre- and on-arrival testing, be asymptomatic, and provide COVID-19-related information electronically through ArriveCAN prior to arrival in Canada. They will need to undergo the screening by the officials at the border control and have a suitable quarantine plan, and be prepared to quarantine if the officials determine that the requirements are not met.
This decision by the Canadian Government is supported by the successful rollout of the vaccine in Canada and Canadians following public health measures.
The government highlighted that the priority remains the health and safety of Canadians and the measures at the border will continue to be monitored in order to introduce more lifts of restrictions or adjust them in case of change of situation of the virus and the variant infection rates.
Languages Canada which represents the Canadian language education sector responded to the news by a statement positively:
“While Languages Canada welcomes this change as a small step in the right direction, we will continue to advocate for the full and immediate elimination of the mandatory three-day government hotel quarantine and the easing of Canada’s quarantine requirements for travellers based on vaccination status, as per the science-based recommendations of the COVID-19 Testing and Screening Expert Advisory Panel, which was commissioned by Minister of Health Patty Hajdu.”
The complete details about the announcement can be found here:
https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/news/2021/06/government-of-canadas-first-phase-to-easing-border-measures-for-travellers-entering-canada3.html
